Boxer Ellie Scotney suffers horror cut and left with blood gushing down face but manages to defend world titles
ELLIE SCOTNEY survived a first-round slashed eye to defend her IBF and WBA super-bantamweight world titles.
The 26-year-old Catford queen went toe-to-toe with New Zealand warrior Mea Motu and was a bloody mess before the end of the opener.
But her cutman played a blinder and Scotney picked apart her relentless Kiwi opponent to land a unanimous decision, with all three judges calling it: 99-91.
Both 122lb women threw early hooks to the head but Scotney started taking control with her jab.
Motu, 35, did land an early right and Scotney was left with a bruise on her left cheekbone – and seconds later she was cut.
As she walked back to her corner, Scotney was leaking loads out of her left eye but her cutman was rapidly working on the case.
Motu was raw and tough but constant and mean.
Scotney was the sharper and smarter but Motu was a typical All Black and always coming forward in waves.
Scotney found her range in the third and was able to pick Motu off but the tough challenger wasn’t taking a backward step.
Motu was always on the front foot, but it was Scotney who had the better lateral movement and was controlling the fight on the edges of the ring.
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Motu made a vicious start to the fourth, with a couple of right hands but Scotney coped and used her superior skills to dominate the backend of the session.
The fifth was a wrestle until Scotney scored with body blows and a peach of a left hook to Motu’s face.
And with her cut just threatening to worsen, Scotney scored with a couple of crisp digs just before the bell.
And, by the sixth session, Scotney’s class was showing as she landed lead left hooks and danced out of danger sweetly.
Relentless Motu never stopped marching forward for another scrum but Scotney was tagging her regularly and a right hook was the pick of the seventh round.
Scotney’s right hand was superb in the eighth, as a straight, a hook and an uppercut. Motu was a greedy punchbag walking on to every punch.
And she kept her cool in the final two stanzas to keep hold of her belts and hopefully move on to adding more.
The champ said: “I am not too happy with my performance, I hurt her at times but I looked for too many single shots.
“She was a tough girl, 20-0, so I hope people put more respect on my name now.
“I wasn’t born with this nose, I’m from Catford so I grew up having fights, but my trainer Shane managed to tame it in there tonight.
“Of course I want to be undisputed, I want the two missing belts but I need those girls to take the fights too, otherwise I will go up to featherweight and fight Skye Nicolson.”